I arrived at a KFC restaurant in Chester, Virginia around lunchtime on Wednesday.
The new menu was prominently advertised on signs outside the restaurant, at the entrance, and at the ordering counter.
I ordered a chicken-and-doughnut sandwich combo meal for $7.99 and a three-piece chicken-tender basket with a donut for $5.49.
My order was ready within three minutes. As soon as I opened the box containing the chicken-and-doughnut sandwich, my senses were overwhelmed with an intensely sweet smell of sugar.
The sandwich was piping hot — too hot to pick up. This is probably because the doughnuts had just come out of the fryer.
A KFC representative told Business Insider's Kate Taylor that the doughnuts are shipped to restaurants already cooked.
When a customer orders them, the doughnuts are dipped in fryers and glazed.
Once the sandwich had cooled down a bit, I took a bite.
The savory flavoring of the chicken overpowered the sweetness of the doughnut in the best possible way.
The doughnut acted as a honey-sweet accent to the chicken, which was the main event.
Next, I tried the chicken-and-doughnut basket.
On their own, the doughnuts were a bit soggy and altogether unremarkable.
They were denser than a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Their taste resembled a fried-and-glazed potato roll. This consistency and flavor works really well when paired with chicken. But I probably wouldn't order the doughnuts on their own.
I came away thinking that the chicken-and-doughnut sandwich could be a real hit, even with doughnuts that on their own are underwhelming.
I might not be alone. One KFC employee said the sandwiches are so popular that they are "flying out the window."
If the recent craze over Popeyes sold-out chicken sandwich is any indication, Americans can't get enough chicken sandwiches. And KFC's chicken-and-doughnut creation would help feed that demand in a new and different way.
